A transnational scammers group is trying to swindle around Tk87 crore from a South Korean company using forged Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) documents for fire trucks procurement, claims Mayor AHM Khairuzzaman Liton.
“I found out the ring manipulated my passport, used fake email addresses, and forged signatures of city corporation officials to purchase eight firefighting trucks from Korean Shinshin Global Company Ltd (SSG) by forging nine documents,” said the mayor during a press conference at RCC Annex Plaza on Wednesday.
RCC is a local government body, and does not deal with the fire service. “So, there is no reason for us to purchase fire trucks worth so much money,” Liton added.
“Apart from that, there is no chance to purchase the vehicles without prior notifications from the officials. Hence the agreement with SGG is against government policy and quite unrealistic.”
Even after informing the company of the scam, Shinshin CEO Byeong-Cheol Shin submitted several complaints to the Bangladesh Embassy in Seoul.
In the documents, the mayor's name was also used to send a total of $78,893 to the US and the Philippines through the South Korean company. The Shinshin Global Company Ltd informed the city corporation that the money had been delivered and the fire trucks will be supplied.
SGG is also now demanding compensation of $300,000 as they failed to get the money they were promised.
"A thorough investigation will reveal whether the SSG was deceived by any third party or the company itself is trying to frame the city corporation," the mayor said.
In this regard, a general diary was filed with the Boalia police station by Ashraful Haque, engineering advisor of RCC on December 23. A letter was also sent to the Embassy with all relevant documents on February 15. A case will also be filed with the cyber tribunal.
On January 13, 2018, Shinshin Engineering Company Ltd, of Shinshin Global Company Ltd sent a letter to RCC proposing a 100MW solar power plant. The company CEO Byeong-Cheol Shin visited Rajshahi to discuss the matter with the authorities at the RCC. However, the project did not get approval.
Three years later, on December 1, 2021, a top official of the Korean company called Ashraful Haque to get information about sending the fire trucks. Haque informed the Korean official they were not aware of the matter, after speaking to the mayor.
“After reviewing the documents, we found the documents contained fake names and titles of various officials, as well as a fake passport for the mayor, including false emergency contact numbers. The picture used in the passport is taken from my Facebook profile or from some posters for campaigns,” said Liton.
“The timezone included in the documents also reveals that the papers were not sent from Bangladesh, but some African countries. This proves the documents sent by the Korean company are fake,” he added.
